Anthropic

An AI safety and research company that builds models like Claude.

How it works

Founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers including Dario and Daniela Amodei, Anthropic builds large language models with safety as a first-class constraint rather than an afterthought. Their key technical contributions include Constitutional AI — a training methodology that uses a written set of principles to guide the model's self-critique and revision — and research into model interpretability to understand what is happening inside AI systems.

Why it matters

Anthropic occupies a unique position as a company that believes it may be building transformative and potentially dangerous technology, and presses forward anyway in order to ensure safety-focused labs are at the frontier. Their Claude models and published safety research directly shape industry norms around responsible AI development, influencing competitors and regulators alike.